Welcome to the Living Lands, a mystical and dangerous place where your emperor has sent you to fight the growing dreamscourge plague. The Skryim-like action RPG Avowed excited me when I previewed it at Gamescom last year, and now that I’ve spent around a dozen hours with the full game, here is a list of tips that should help you get a better foot forward when you start the game, from settings to tweak to exploring advice.
Turn down the music volume
Turning the music level down to 60%.
The music in this game is far too loud and constantly fights with the character dialogue, making everything sound like a mess. It also seems like the developers even knew about this since the music level is already lowered to 80% by default, but even that level isn’t enough. Go into the audio settings and turn that down even lower — I found that 60% was a good spot to enjoy the music while hearing what everyone’s saying.
Keep an eye on the mini map
Avowed’s mini map is full of various icons, pointing out collectables, enemies and quest markers. It’s worth keeping an eye on this as it can also help you find some hidden areas and treasures that pop up as you roam around the world. For example, early in the game I noticed an enemy marker coming from the other side of a wall. Upon closer inspection I found a hard-to-spot switch that opened a hidden doorway. This led to a battle with the monster I had noticed on the map and a treasure chest waiting for me behind it.
Explore everywhere for advice and XP
There is a lot to be found outside of the main questline in Avowed. Many NPCs will have full conversations with dialogue trees if you interact with them, and they have a lot of world lore to share. I found this helpful from time to time since they would give me tips and advice on the area I was about to explore and what to expect or how best to tackle encounters. There are also a lot of side quests to be found around the map, which tended to be more interesting than the main storyline. In fact, Avowed even rewards you for exploring by giving you experience points every time you find a new named location, so push those frontiers.
Chat with your companions
Companion conversation pop up on the left side of the screen.
You’ll start recruiting new companions pretty quickly into the game, and their name and health will pop up on the left side of your screen. What will also pop up in a little icon with an exclamation point, which means they’re wanting to have a specific conversation with you. Unfortunately, you can’t have this chat unless you’re at camp, which you won’t unlock until a little ways into the game after you’ve already met a companion or two. Once you have though, you can freely fast travel to camp and go through these new dialogue options.
Unlock the frame rate
Unlock the frame rate in the settings menu.
I’m playing Avowed on Xbox Series X and during the initial settings menu, it doesn’t give you the typical prioritize frame rate/resolution options. These options are available but they must be changed after you’ve started the game and watched through the opening cut scene. However, the real interesting option is that Avowed also lets you unlock your frame rate, letting you achieve a smoother picture than normal. However, the game does point out that this is only an option for TVs that support 120Hz and have variable refresh rate support.
Adjust the auto save frequency
Adjusting the autosave frequency.
Avowed will automatically save your game from time to time in addition to letting you create multiple manual saves when you want. You can go into the gameplay settings and adjust how often you want that auto save to happen. If you find yourself constantly dying and being sent further back than you’d like, this is a good option to tweak for more frequent backup saves.
Switch to third person camera
It might seem like blasphemy to choose not to play a Skyrim-like in first person, but that’s actually how I’ve preferred to do it. In the gameplay settings you can switch the camera position to third person in order to see your character. I’ve found this helps me deal with combat encounters against multiple enemies trying to surround me, navigate platforming sections, and let me see the new armor and gear I’ve equipped on my hero.
Take advantage of free healing at camp
If you’re not in the middle of combat or a dungeon, fast traveling to one of your camp sites is the best way to heal yourself without using items or resources. Simply warping there will replenish your health and essence (magic) meters. Better still, when you leave camp you have the option to exit where the camp is located or back to the exact point you originally fast traveled from meaning you won’t have to run back to where you left.
When the game says you need better gear, get it
Warning showing how much harder enemies will be if you equip lower tier weapons.
Early into the main quest line, you’ll get a side mission that tells you to get higher quality armor and weapons. Your companions will even start calling out your weak gear during combat to emphasize this. Unfortunately, and one of the more frustrating parts of Avowed, the gear the game wants you to get is very expensive compared with where you’re at. However, it is highly recommended that you follow the quest’s advice and spend the money to upgrade. Not only will you be doing less damage and taking more damage from stronger enemies, but the game will actually nerf your attacks and buff the enemies by a fixed percentage because you aren’t using the higher/recommended tier of equipment. Save yourself the tiresome battles and grind your currency (or crafting components) to get better gear as soon as you’re advised to do so.
A great but slightly challenging way to earn money quick is to take on the various bounties found in each town. These are quests found on a job board, usually in a group. They will have you head out to fight strong, high-value enemies and can get you some quick cash.
Avowed releases on Xbox and PC on Feb. 18.